Jamaica-Mento 1951-1958 - CD booklet online - (English version at the bottom of the page).Strand, London, England: Rough Guides, Ltd. Barrow, Steve Dalton, Peter (August 2004)."Calling All Singers, Musicians and Speechmakers : Mento Aesthetics and Jamaica’s Early Recording Industry." Caribbean Quarterly, Vol.
Available in pdf format at New York University homepages.
^ "Frémeaux & Associés éditeur, La Librairie Sonore".^ Charlton, Katherine (August 17, 1998).Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia & Africa – via Google Books. "Rastafarian Music in Contemporary Jamaica: A Study of Socioreligious Music of the Rastafarian Movement in Jamaica". ^ "Intra-Caribbean Migration: The Caribbean Connection (1898-present)".^ a b c " Mento Purely Home-Grown", Jamaica Gleaner, 6 July 2014.^ a b c d e " Shaping Freedom, Finding Unity - The Power Of Music Displayed In Early Mento", Jamaica Gleaner, 11 August 2013." "From Memphis to Kingston": An Investigation into the Origin of Jamaican Ska". Directed by Dennis Marks and Geoffrey Haydon. From Repercussions: A Celebration of African-American Music series, program 6. The mento dance is a Jamaican folk-form dance with acoustic guitar, banjo, hand drums and rhumba box. Stanley Beckford and Gilzene and the Blue Light Mento Band also revived rural mento in the 2000s. This style of music was revived in popularity by the Jolly Boys in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the release of four recordings on First Warning Records/ Rykodisc and a tour that included the United States.
Lloyd Bradley, reggae historian and author of the seminal reggae book, Bass Culture, said that Lee "Scratch" Perry’s seminal 1976 dub album, Super Ape, contained some of the purest mento influences he knew. Mento is still played in Jamaica, especially in areas frequented by tourists. In the 1960s it became overshadowed by ska and reggae. This was the golden age of mento, as records pressed by Stanley Motta, Ivan Chin, Ken Khouri and others brought the music to a new audience. If the tourists want "calypso", that's what we sell them." Most of the people there are hard working folks, and many of them are smart business men. Some people like to think of West Indians as carefree natives who work and sing and play and laugh their lives away. This is because it's become so commercialized there. Today, 'calypso' is beginning to be used for all kinds of West Indian music. "In Jamaica, we call our music 'mento' until very recently. In a 1957 interview for Calypso Star magazine, Lord Flea explained: ĭue in part to Belafonte's popularity, mento became widely conflated with calypso in the 1950s. Previously recorded Jamaican versions of many Belafonte's classic "calypso" hits can be heard on the Jamaica - Mento 1951-1958 CD released by Frémeaux & Associés in 2009. His wildly popular hit records in 1956-1958, including " Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" and " Jamaica Farewell," were mento songs sold as calypso. Major 1950s mento recording artists include Louise Bennett, Count Lasher, Harold Richardson, Lord Flea, Lord Fly, Alerth Bedasse with Chin's Calypso Sextet, Laurel Aitken, Denzil Laing, Lord Composer, Lord Lebby, Lord Power, Hubert Porter, and Harry Belafonte, a New Yorker of Jamaican origin. Supposedly, it derives from the Spanish verb mentar, "to mention, call out, name", because of the subtle ways that lyrics criticised people (whether fellow blacks, or the whites who were in charge). The word mento is of uncertain etymology it may be from an African language or Cuban Spanish Rex Nettleford claimed the term was brought back from Cuba by Jamaicans returning from work there. It became more popular in the late 1940s, with mento performances becoming a common aspect of dances, parties and other events in Jamaica. Mento can be seen as a precursor of some of the movement motifs and themes dealing with such social issues found in modern dancehall. Thinly veiled sexual references and innuendo are also common. Many comment on poverty, poor housing, and other social issues. The lyrics of mento songs often deal with aspects of everyday life in a light-hearted and humorous way. The Jamaican mento style has a long history of conflation with Trinidadian calypso. The Africans created a creole music, incorporating such elements of these traditions, including quadrille, into their own folk music. Enslaved musicians were often required to play music for their masters and often rewarded for such skills. Mento draws on musical traditions brought by enslaved West Africa people.